1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for monitoring energy delivery networks. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for operating alarm management systems that monitor energy delivery networks.
2. The Relevant Technology
Electricity has become an indispensable part of people's lives and is used in many aspects of life. Homes, businesses, factories, and communities all use varying amounts of electricity. In practical terms, all of the devices, machines, motors, air conditioning equipment, fans, manufacturing equipment, other electrically powered industrial equipment, etc., that need electricity to operate can be viewed as some type of load.
While the electricity delivered to a particular consumer is usually measured by the power company for various purposes including billing purposes, monitoring the electrical power consumption and other aspects of electricity delivered to an individual load, circuit or other point in an energy delivery network is not usually performed by the power company. Although not monitored by the power company, this information is often desired by certain consumers (e.g., factories, apartment buildings, businesses, etc.) in order to identify ways to reduce utility costs, optimize equipment utilization, and improve system reliability.
Various power management systems have been developed that assist consumers in obtaining some or all of the information they desire. Such power management systems often include meters installed at key points for monitoring various entities such as loads, generators, substations, service entrances, mains, feeders, etc. The meters generate data which can be collected and analyzed. By installing more meters and collecting more data, more information can be obtained that may be useful for consumers. However, as the number of meters increases and the amount of data grows, it becomes increasingly more difficult to organize, configure and operate power management systems.
Conventional power management systems define and generate alarms inconveniently using an alarm management system. For instance, an alarm can be defined that causes a notification to be sent to a system user upon the occurrence of a particular condition at a particular entity. However, these alarms are typically defined one entity at a time. Further, when one or more monitored entities are added to the system or the organization of the monitored entities in the system is altered, some or all of the alarms and/or the organization of the system have to be redefined one entity at a time. This entity-by-entity alarm system reconfiguration can represent a significant cost to consumers in terms of both time and money.
Furthermore, it can be difficult or even impossible to configure conventional power management systems to aggregate & filter alarms. Consequently, the triggering of an upstream alarm can result in the triggering of one or more downstream alarms, thereby causing a system user to receive an unmanageable amount of unnecessary alarms. Additionally, in conventional systems false alarms are often triggered when equipment is taken out of service, which can similarly cause a system user to receive unnecessary alarms.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.